Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to encryption and decryption methods systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for encrypting a plain text message by performing one or more encryption operations on the plain text message, wherein at least one of the encryption operations uses a one off random key.
Encryption systems utilizing one-off random keys are well known in the art. If used correctly, messages encrypted with a truly random key are impossible to crack. One implementation of an encryption system utilizing one off random keys is the one-time pad system. One-time pads are matching pairs of pads, with each pad having multiple pages of random sequences of characters printed or written thereon. Matching pads have matching random sequences of characters so that when an encrypting party uses a random sequence of characters on a pad to encrypt the message, the receiving party has to use the matching random sequence of characters in their pad to decrypt the message.
This type of encryption system suffers from several drawbacks. First, use of one-time pads must be synchronized so that both the sending and receiving party use a matching page of a matching pad set. If either the pad or the page of the pad does not match, the receiving party will not be able to decrypt the message or may decrypt a message that is different from the original message. Second, use of such one time pads suffers from the possibility of the pads being intercepted or copied since they have to be transmitted separately from the encrypted message itself.
Accordingly, it is desirable to improve the functionality of encryption systems utilizing a one off random key by transmitting the one off random key together with the encrypted message.